International Days for the Right to Housing Without Borders (Bobigny, France, 13-16 October 2010)

Sexta-Feira, 1 de Outubro de 2010

Nicola Sossass

Each year, the IAI organises, along with the members of the Co-ordination Committee and other key figures from around the world, a week of initiatives in a city with international impact.

These International Days have many objectives:

to encourage the sharing of experiences among the inhabitant organizations of different countries and local inhabitants’ organizations;

to assess and give a firm basis to the World Assembly of Inhabitants (WAI) construction process;

to encourage the building of a partnership among the groups committed to the right to housing and the city, such as social organisations, NGOs, local authorities, universities and sector professionals.

Introduction: a network that encourages glocal inhabitants to voice their words

A participant in the World Social Forum process as a member of the International Council and initiatives organiser at each world or regional event, the IAI campaigns for the construction of another possible world focusing on the theme of housing and the urban environment.

As such, the IAI intends to encourage inhabitants to make their voices heard, thereby contributing effectively to the emergence of a new type of activist, the glocal inhabitant: fully aware of the challenges of neoliberal globalization while staying fully rooted in the local social environment.

Based on this approach, the IAI is building and proposing partnerships with other groups working in the same areas, such as NGOs, local authorities, universities and sector professionals.

Objectives of the International Days

Each year, the IAI organises, along with the members of the Co-ordination Committee and other key figures from around the world, a week of initiatives in a city with international impact.

These International Days have many objectives:

·to encourage the sharing of experiences among the inhabitant organizations of different countries and local inhabitants’ organizations;

·to assess and give a firm basis to the World Assembly of Inhabitants (WAI) construction process;

·to encourage the building of a partnership among the groups committed to the right to housing and the city, such as social organisations, NGOs, local authorities, universities and sector professionals.

The focus in 2010 is on the IAI’s strategic commitment to the construction of the World Assembly of Inhabitants (WSF
Dakar, 6-11 February 2011), a process that began at the last IAI Days event (Madrid 2-9 June 2008). This occasion saw the drafting of the Madrid Declaration
, which launched the construction of a common space for inhabitant organisations and urban social movements, a process which emerged during the first World Assembly of Inhabitants in October 2000 in Mexico City when over 300 representatives from 35 countries came together. Thanks to the sharing of experiences, and the agreed project specifications, the Mexico Assembly had, among other things, the merit of exposing the need to build an independent international inhabitants network, thus laying the foundations of the IAI.

Ten years later, the inhabitants of the world feel the need for a strategic renewal of the project so as to be able to deal effectively with the globalization of the urban issue, an urgent issue that affects over 1.2 billion homeless or badly housed people worldwide, with the figure set to reach 1.7 billion in 2020. These figures illustrate the blatant failure of the 7-11 Millennium Development Goal, even though governments have committed to improving the living conditions of at least 100 million people before the same date.

Urban and housing policies dictated by neo-liberalism; megaprojects which displace entire communities; natural disasters used to justify speculative investments; wars and foreign occupation which redefine territories and the circumstances of their inhabitants; economic and racial prejudices which divide societies and cities: these are all phenomena taking place against the backdrop of the global crisis, which has stemmed from the financial and real estate bubble.

A year after its launch, the Madrid Declaration already has the support of over 380 members from 41 countries, as well as from the European Social Forum
(Malmo, September 2008), the Social Forum of the Americas
(Guatemala, October 2008) and the World Social Forum
(Belem, January 2009) when the WAI was supported by Urban Convergences, that is, by all the main international networks for the right to housing. The process also enjoys the approval and support of the Local Authorities Forum.

For these reasons, the 2010 Days are part of the final step in the process to build the multiple dimensions (cultural, social and political) of the WAI.

Why the Ile de France?

From the time of its birth and since the European Social Forum in Paris in 2003, the IAI has been collaborating with French social organisations that fight for the right to housing, such as DAL, CNL, CGL and Fondation Abbé Pierre and with NGOs such as the AITEC, as well as with supporting local authorities such as the Municipality of Bobigny, among others.

Given the urgency of the housing crisis in this region, which has been highlighted by the dynamism of civil society, and the commitment of certain institutions to the fight for the right to housing, we think it is important to support this process as well as to work on and embed WAI construction here.

We have, therefore, chosen this region to organize the 2010 International Days because we acknowledge the importance of strong public and media recognition in reinforcing the commitment of all the various participants to supporting the right to the city, as well as in working more effectively together to develop the next steps.

We are counting on the International Days to send a strong signal to the citizens and the local authorities of the region as well as to the members of our network. The region should now be considered as a true capital of the right to housing and the city without borders.

Initiatives Schedule

Consequently, we have organised a series of initiatives that aim to establish the link between the local and global level:

Meeting of the IAI Co-ordination Committee
Assessing and updating the strategy towards the WAI and debate on 2011-2014 strategy (Via Urbana), preparation for the next steps (WAI 2011).

Meeting of the WAI Joint Steering Committee
Assessing the construction process at the global and regional level (contents, local mobilisation, systematisation, partnerships, budget), establishing the WAI format, schedule and commitments.

”Memory of the Inhabitants
” Systematisation Workshop
Motivation and training of social leaders on tools to strengthen and make durable the construction of the shared memory of glocal inhabitants, using multimedia files (text and video interviews). In collaboration with UPU, Museu da Pessoa, H&P and RITIMO.

Meetings with inhabitant organisations
Sharing experiences and mutual support, systematisation of contacts, assessment and local establishment of the WAI proposal.

Demonstration-Meeting as part of the World Zero Eviction Days
Together with all the supporting French inhabitant and human rights organisations (DAL, AITEC, LDH, etc.), No-Vox, and progressive local authorities, a demonstration-meeting will be held in a key place in Paris where there is a threat of eviction to send a strong signal of solidarity with inhabitants affected by the housing crisis and racism, especially the poor and the Romas.
Objective: to launch a “Zero Eviction Manifesto” as a basis for concrete commitment by all parties (anti-eviction orders, resistance in defence of the right to housing, etc.).

Given the strategic importance of developing an inclusive process, the main events will be transmitted as live stream on www.habitants.org

Interpreters

English, French and Spanish.

Partnerships

As the WAI process is a self-managed, bottom-up approach, the resources for its implementation come from voluntary contribution and the gratis commitment of its members and partners (Agir abcd and Babels).
We can also count on the support of the IAI’s historic institutional partners: the city of Bobigny, with which we have been collaborating since the 2003 ESF and which is committed to defending the right to housing and the city (anti-eviction orders, participative budget and urban planning); the Charles Leopold Mayer Foundation for the Progress of Humankind and the Government of the Basque Country.

How to participate

Entry to the International Days is free.

WAI Steering Committees are invited to the Days, which are also open to inhabitant organisations and urban social movements.

NGOs, support networks, universities, local authorities and foundations that share the WAI construction process are welcome.

Given that it is a self-managed process, travel and housing costs will not be reimbursed.

However, interested persons can count on the IAI to send letters of support, which they can present to partners which may be likely to fund their participation, and to reserve accommodation (at their cost).